Concluding Postscript

My flesh and my heart fail; but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.   For, behold, those who are far from you shall perish; you have destroyed all those who go astray from you.  Psalm 73:26-27  Hebrew World translation

Have destroyed – Justice will prevail.  Oh, we like the sound of that.  But Asaph has a slightly different point of view.  He isn’t looking to the future to see God rectify wrongdoing.  He says God has already done that!  The verb Asaph uses is tsamat.  Occurring fourteen times in the Tanakh, it is a description of total destruction or complete silencing.  This is a verb about extinction, obliteration and annihilation.  Asaph uses it in the perfect sense, that is, an action that has already been completed. What makes this even more difficult to understand is that fact that Asaph uses the imperfect tense in the previous verb.  He says that those who are far from God will perish.  That action has not yet been completed.  But when it comes to tsamat, the action is over and done. How is this possible?

Asaph is viewing the world through God’s eyes.  While the wicked have not yet perished because they have not yet come to ruin (God is still using them for His purposes), the true perspective of their existence is already determined.  The verdict is in.  All that remains is the sentencing.  From our temporal viewpoint, we wonder if God will ever bring justice to the earth.  But from God’s viewpoint, that is a foregone conclusion.  At the end of his poem, Asaph moves away from the myopia of a world gone mad to the corrected vision of a world under the sovereignty of El Shaddai.  When the sleeper awakes, the prescient action will occur.  No need to fret.  No need to envy.  The game is already over.  All that’s left is for the players to leave the field.

As much as we are gladdened by Asaph’s insight, we should equally quake in its implications.  First, there is no dallying with God.  Today is the day of salvation.  Not tomorrow.  The fate of the wicked is sealed.  The only question is which team you are on.  And don’t make the mistake of thinking that once you signed the players’ contract you can’t be cut.  “Perform to serve” is now the military’s motto.  It has always been the motto of the Kingdom.

Secondly, since loitering brings disaster, we should tremble over the guaranteed consequences looming in the lives of those who do not read and understand Asaph.  I fear for some I love.  You probably share my feelings.  Paul tells us to redeem the time for the day is short.  Yes, it is.  Help me, O Lord.

Asaph gives us hope, and at the same time, delivers proleptic anxiety.  So many are yet to come in.  What must we do for them before it’s too late?  “Lord, may Your mercy outweigh Your wrath for this day.”

Topical Index:  have destroyed, tsamat, Psalm 73:26-27

If you want to know about the last verse of Psalm 73, go here.